Monk Fruit

*Renowned human rights activist: The author founded City of Asylum in Detroit.

*Widely published: Poems have been published in The Paris Review, New York Review of Books, and elsewhere. Salem’s fiction has appeared in BOMB Magazine and Granta.

*Award-winning author: Winner of the 2023 Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry and finalist for the 2024 National Poetry Series and 2021 Bergman Prize, selected by Louise Glück, among others 

*Acclaimed short fiction writer: Winner of BOMB Magazine’s 2021 Fiction Contest, selected by Ottessa Moshfegh, as well as the PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize in Short Fiction, and published in Catapult’s 2023 Best Debut Short Stories.

*Palestinian American: The author was born in the United States to Palestinian parents. A central concern of his work is the occupation of Palestine. 

*Humorous and provocative: The author has an absurdist sensibility. He describes the poems as “tragicomic.” 

*For readers of: Rumi, Kaveh Akbar, and Solmaz Sharif.